guitar center

Teetonetal

I’m in the USA for a week, went to the local guitar center in Warwick RI, was quite shocked how poor a store it is. Firstly it was filthy, stock everywhere. New guitars were all out of the box, poor fret work and setups. Some of the 2nd hand stuff looked like it had been through a war zone. Packs of strings looked 20years old!

Not really surprised it’s struggling, even some basic presentation skills would help.

Whitecat

If you want even more fun get a hold of one of their infamous "coupons" (if they still do them) and try to redeem it against anything you could possibly want. I tried that once in Chicago and man, this way be dragons... 

Moominpapa

Guitar Center is the WalMart of music stores. When I lived in Rhode Island I was about 10 minutes drive from a Guitar Center that used to be in North Attleborough, and it was the same as you described. That was 15 years ago. Plus ça change .....

crunchman

I don't know if individual stores vary.  I've been to the one in Orlando when on holiday - it's just down the road from some horrible mall that my wife, her sister, and her mum, liked going to.  That store was quite decent - or it was 8 years ago.

I did prefer George's Music though.  It's worth checking out if you are in Orlando.

WiresDreamDisasters

Yep. Crap store.

KrisGee

No wonder. They have a really crap reputation in States.

John_A

crunchman said:

I don't know if individual stores vary.  I've been to the one in Orlando when on holiday - it's just down the road from some horrible mall that my wife, her sister, and her mum, liked going to.  That store was quite decent - or it was 8 years ago.

I did prefer George's Music though.  It's worth checking out if you are in Orlando.

George's music is a great shop!

Philtre

I hear they sell Chapman guitars. Seems about right.

artiebear

Hideous store chain. How they are still going is something of a mystery, especially to their customers.

Lodious

Guitar Centre is absolutely awful. Like PMT without the charm.

crunchman

artiebear said:

Hideous store chain. How they are still going is something of a mystery, especially to their customers.

In a lot of places they are the only option in town.

In the days before internet shopping became big, GC would move into town, and offer really cheap prices on everything (subsidised by the other shops in the chain).  The local independents couldn't compete so they went under.  At that point, GC put the prices back to normal, and move on to the next town.

chrishill901

The one in Hollywood is good, although nowhere near as good as the Sam Ash across the road. They knew I was a tourist (and therefore not going to buy) but gave me the same attention they gave every customer, and gave me some free Sam Ash picks to remember them buy. Great store. Guitar Center in Vegas was exactly as you described though. It is the the Walmart of the guitar world.

SquireJapan

Agree with all of the above. Only interesting Guitar Center's I've been in where the two main ones in New York (44th, and 14th streets), and the one in Nashville. Even then they weren't great. Odd places.

Some much more interesting shops to try if you end up in either NYC or Nashville.

crunchman

chrishill901 said:

The one in Hollywood is good, although nowhere near as good as the Sam Ash across the road. They knew I was a tourist (and therefore not going to buy) but gave me the same attention they gave every customer, and gave me some free Sam Ash picks to remember them buy. Great store. Guitar Center in Vegas was exactly as you described though. It is the the Walmart of the guitar world.

Like I said above, the Orlando one isn't bad - or wasn't 8 years ago.  There are a lot of British holiday makers who go in there hoping to pay the same in dollars as they would in pounds at home.  The first time we went to Florida, I did buy a end pedal there, and probably saved myself about £40.  I think that store does have a decent turnover of good stuff, and keeps a good stock of it.

That being said, the second time we went to Florida, I discovered George's Music and bought something in there instead.  That's a good shop.

rsvmark

Guitar centre in San Francisco was utterly charmless. Not even a hi when I made eye contact. Hollywood was slightly better- their hall of fame was the standout feature! Didn’t know about Sam Ash when I was there- shame!

LoFi

I went to one in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago - I thought it had a lot of interesting stuff, was clean and tidy and the staff were friendly (though I didn't actually try anything, so can't comment on setups).

However, it was very clear that you weren't allowed to try the decent stuff without asking, and some of the really high end stuff was so far up the wall that you couldn't make out the model name on the headstock (and I'm 6'2)

Jalapeno

Isn't there a rumour that allegedly Gibson and Fender can't afford to let them shut or the market would be flooded with G&F stock from the liquidators.

fretmeister

Jalapeno said:

Isn't there a rumour that allegedly Gibson and Fender can't afford to let them shut or the market would be flooded with G&F stock from the liquidators.

I've heard that rumour too.
From a distributor I trust.